As a global provider of contactless mobile payments and financial services software, Youtap enables mobile money and virtual wallet customers to tap and pay at any point of sale with any mobile device.

The New Zealand-headquartered company says it has introduced its range of white label quick response (QR) code solutions to banks and mobile money services in Africa.

The products and services include Youtap Pay platform, the Youtap Pay app and the Youtap merchant app. Providers and banks offering Youtap’s white label QR code solution take it to the market with their own name and brand.

Peter Meredith, EVP operations and marketing at Youtap, says the company has services installed in 18 countries across Africa, and is expanding its efforts to cover remaining countries through its telecoms operator and banking partnerships.

“Youtap already has extensive experience across Africa, and we understand the unique challenges to digital payments in these and other global growth markets. Our newly introduced solutions address needs specific to Africa.

“For example, we developed a payment solution called the Youtap X8, which is a low-cost, highly portable payment device that allows small merchants to accept near-field communication (NFC) mobile money payments without an expensive payment acceptance device.

“Our QR code solution is another step in that direction – making mobile money and digital payments accessible to anyone who wants to do business – whether it’s a street vendor, a motorcycle taxi driver, or a large retail chain,” he explains.

The new solution gives any merchant or small businesss owner with a smartphone the potential to download Youtap’s merchant app, self-register, and start accepting mobile money payments. Likewise, any subscriber with a smartphone can download the Youtap Pay app and start making payments.

Merchants that do not own a smartphone could be provided a printed QR code to accept mobile money, notes the company.

What distinguishes Youtap’s QR code payment solutions from similar payment platforms is that it integrates, serves and grows existing mobile money and banking services in the market, it says.

“This integration enables those services to rapidly extend into mass market payments, and provide QR code agent services including cash in, cash out, bill payments and airtime top-up. Other QR code payment methods, such as Alipay and WeChat, serve their own mobile wallets only and typically rely on bank transfers to fund those wallets,” explains Meredith.